Orange County Soccer Club to call Great Park home for another 5 years

• October 12, 2023

Soccer fans will be able to see Orange County Soccer Club games at the Great Park for several more seasons.

On Tuesday, the Great Park Board, which is made up of Irvine councilmembers, approved a five-year extension to an agreement that will allow the club to play at Irvine’s Championship Soccer Stadium until 2028.

The OCSC has had an agreement with the city since 2019, giving it access to the Championship Stadium for about 18 home games in exchange for fees.

New to the agreement are advertising and branding rights given to OCSC and community grant funding paid to the city by OCSC. According to the staff report, the grant will be used to provide residents with scholarship opportunities for various community programs.

“This agreement provides the city with ongoing revenue streams while providing OCSC with the stability they need to call Great Park home for years to come,” said Cory Hilderbrand, an Irvine spokesperson.

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The new pieces to the agreement will allow OCSC to advertise its own brand as well as third-party sponsors within the Great Park Sports Complex and the soccer stadium, including the panels on the scoreboard, during the next five years. That’s something OCSC couldn’t do under previous agreements, which mandated the club take down signage after games, OCSC spokesperson Chad Romiti said.

OCSC, in turn, will provide the city $25,000 annually, beginning on Feb. 15, according to the staff report, for the “intended purpose of adding to the city’s scholarship fund for various programs in community services.”

The new agreement also outlines the option of an additional five-year extension “upon the written, mutual agreement of the parties.” Romiti said he’s positive the team will play at Great Park through the 2033 season, given the “history between the club and the city of Irvine.”

“We’re pretty confident that it will be a 10-year deal,” Romiti said. “Obviously, we have to be good stewards of the facility.”

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City leaders had some reservations regarding stadium naming rights.

OCSC would have the exclusive rights to pursue third-party sponsorship for the naming rights to the stadium, the agreement had said. For any third-party sponsors secured by OCSC, the club would get to keep 80% of the fees while the rest would go to the city.

The board ultimately struck that provision from the agreement, choosing to further discuss it with the soccer club at a separate time.

“We bring a lot of value to the stadium, and in terms of our ability to bring in partners, we bring a lot of additional value to your beautiful facility, which is how this agreement was contemplated,” said Daniel Rutstein, the club’s president of business relations.

The club will be celebrating the new deal at its first-round Western Conference Quarterfinal playoff game on Oct. 21 at the Championship Stadium, Romiti said.

​ Orange County Register 

Let there be shade. New California law paves way for cooler school campuses

• October 12, 2023

On a 120 degree day there’s exactly one thing all students in the San Fernando Valley and other high temperature areas seek: the cool relief of shade. But this hot commodity is in limited supply and for a surprising reason.

Many public school campuses have encountered six-figure cost estimates when seeking to install shade sails, due to California state building requirements. But thanks to a new law the cost of installing sails is expected to plummet and bring the temperature of California school playgrounds down with it.

SB 515, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this week, was authored by state Senator Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, whose district takes in a wide swath of the Valley and reaches to Ventura County.

The sun-soaked Lorena elementary school playground in Los Angeles, Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Concerned parents, teachers and others held a press conference at the school to call out the LAUSD for rejecting warnings about heatwaves and failing to provide cool areas for students. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The bill limits the cost of accessibility requirements on shade projects to 20% of the cost of the project, making it possible for schools to install shade sails with no unexpected costs. Previously, affixing a shade sail to the side of a school building would have triggered a requirement to bring the entire building in line with the latest rules for creating pathways of travel for people with disabilities, which typically come with a big price tag.

On hot days, asphalt surfaces can reach temperature of up to 145 degrees, while the presence of shade structures can lower ambient air temperature by 15 degrees.

“I have two-year-old who has to walk on 140 degree asphalt and, at the time I was writing this bill, my wife was pregnant, and we’re living in Van Nuys,” said Stern. “So this is self-interested in the sense that this is intolerable and a direct health crisis in my own house, and it is a crisis for millions of other people too.”

The issue disproportionately impacts low-income students living in densely populated, urban areas. Its passage was met with celebration by the Los Angeles Unified School District, which sponsored SB 515 and played a key role in getting it to the finish line in Sacramento.

“I am grateful to Governor Newsom for recognizing that extreme heat is a serious and urgent threat to students and for signing this common sense climate solution that cuts red tape to help schools make our campuses greener and more resilient,” said LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

During extreme heat, students lose access to outdoor play spaces or they risk getting heat-related illnesses. In both scenarios, student performance and behavior suffers.

LAUSD school communities have been clamoring for more cooling projects for years and the district has set a goal for all campuses to be 30% green space by 2035.

The state has also heeded these calls and this year CAL FIRE made $120 million available for schools to replace asphalt with green spaces, trees and vegetation to provide protection against extreme heat.

LAUSD Boardmember Nick Melvoin, who represents West Los Angeles and the West San Fernando Valley, sounded the alarm for shade structures specifically about a year ago.

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Los Angeles schools are replacing hot asphalt playgrounds with green spaces for kids

After seeing schools in the West Valley area of his district facing struggles to install shade sails, Melvoin penned an op-ed pointing out the ways onerous building requirements unintentionally held back shady relief that students needed. That caught the attention of Stern, who with the backing of the district and encouragement from more than 275 letters of support from LAUSD staff and families, convinced his Sacramento colleagues to pass SB 515.

“Our frustration with keeping kids out of the heat led to this new piece of legislation that we think really will enable L.A. Unified, and school districts throughout the state, to (install shade structures) more quickly and more cost effectively, because it cuts some of the red tape and bureaucratic elements that have made this so difficult,” said Melvoin.

“I think this was a great example of how we can work together with our partners in the state legislature to fix the problem and have cooler heads prevail,” he added.

Between the installation of shade structures and the ongoing campus greening efforts, the district hopes to see big benefits for students. Research has shown that access to nature can reduce heart rates, anxiety and decrease student disorderly conduct. In addition, year-round access to outdoor play space improves students’ performance, focus and mood.

LAUSD Board Vice President Scott Schmerelson, who represents the central San Fernando Valley, is eager to see his students benefit from the law, noting that high temperatures on campuses are getting worse.

“California is experiencing extreme heat waves and dangerous environmental conditions due to climate change,” he said. “Shade structures provide a huge relief when students are outside, possibly preventing serious heat related illnesses.”

​ Orange County Register 

Little difference between Democratic Senate candidates Lee, Porter, Schiff

• October 12, 2023

In a little over a year California voters will choose a replacement for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

An Oct. 8 debate revealed some differences among the three candidates involved: Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Orange County and Barbara Lee of Oakland.

On the hottest issue of the day, the candidates differed on how the United States ought to respond to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

Schiff first was asked if he was out of step with “other progressives,” such as Porter and Lee, with his typically hawkish stance. He touted his support by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and J Street. He said, “The only sentiment I want to express right now, when Israel is going through its own 9/11, is unequivocal support for the security and the right of Israel to defend itself.”

Porter, by contrast, said, “I stand with Israel in this time and I condemn the loss of lives, both of Palestinians and of Israelis who are being victims of this terror.” She backed a two-state solution, giving Palestinians their own country, and she cautioned with respect to Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorist attacks, “There is no exception for human rights.”

Said Lee, who has sponsored legislation putting restrictions on U.S. aid to Israel, “I have always stood for Israel.” She added she has condemned terrorist attacks on it. She called for prayers for both sides, and said America “has a responsibility to call for a ceasefire.”

On the domestic front, all three supported a bill by Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, to more than double the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $17 by 2028; in California it already will be $16 in 2024.

Schiff thought there ought to be flexibility among states because some are cheaper. But for health care workers, he backed $25 and $20 for everyone else. Lee, who has evidently never once considered getting even vaguely acquainted with economics, backed a $50 minimum wage. Porter complained about corporate profits and backed a $25 minimum wage with a cost-of-living increase.

The candidates held similar views on most other issues, such as opposing the potential shutdown of the government over budget squabbles and backing the PRO Act, which would greatly increase union power.

In other words, the three top Democrats are as economically illiterate as each other, and prefer suffocating top-down federal mandates over allowing markets to work. Their only major distinction is their approach to foreign policy. On the one end, you have Schiff, who voted for the disastrous Iraq war and on the other, you have Lee, who voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

In future debates, we hope participants include Sen. Laphonza Butler, who was invited but chose not to participate. She was appointed Oct. 1 by Gov Gavin Newsom to replace Feinstein. But so far Butler hasn’t publicly stated her intentions for seeking election to the office.

And because the March 5 primary is Top Two — not partisan — at least one Republican hopeful should be included in future debates. Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey, who just announced he is running for the Senate seat, is hoping to do better than his former team in this year’s playoffs.

​ Orange County Register 

Drummond: More PYLUSD students taking and passing AP tests

• October 12, 2023

Advanced Placement students at the four comprehensive high schools in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District completed another stellar year, with a significant increase in both the pass rate and the number of examinations administered.

And 63 seniors who earned the International Baccalaureate diploma at Valencia High School exceeded the number from the county’s other IB high schools, a record held for seven years.

Passing scores – three or higher on a five-point scale for AP and four or higher on a seven-point scale for IB – can earn university credit and allow students to bypass introductory courses. Decisions on credits and placement are made by individual universities.

A total of 4,493 AP examinations were administered during the annual May testing period to freshman through senior students at El Dorado, Esperanza, Valencia and Yorba Linda high schools, a nearly 7% increase over last year. The already high pass rate increased by 2%.

Here’s how each high school scored on the AP tests, according to district-provided data:

El Dorado administered 1,156 exams in 25 subjects for an 84% pass rate, up from 1,008 exams in 22 subjects for a 77% pass rate last year.

Esperanza administered 565 exams in 22 subjects for an 83% pass rate, up from 548 exams in 20 subjects for a 78% pass rate last year.

Valencia administered 1,557 exams in 29 subjects for an 86% pass rate, up from 1,473 exams in 24 subjects for an 87% pass rate last year.

Yorba Linda administered 1,215 exams in 26 subjects for an 88% pass rate, up from 1,083 exams in 27 subjects for an 88% pass rate last year.

Interestingly, AP Chinese language is now offered at each high school, and the pass rate for the 51 students who took the exam this year was 100%. And the number of chemistry exams administered jumped nearly 75% to 229 with a 98% pass rate.

The IB program at Valencia administered 412 exams in 19 subjects with a 93% pass rate. Currently, 65 seniors and 95 juniors are enrolled in IB, according to Fred Jenkins, IB coordinator.

Scores on 13 of the exams were significantly higher than world averages, including economics, computer science, psychology, biology and history, ranging from 18% to 75% higher.

The Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education diploma, offered at Valencia since 2021, represents “breadth across the curriculum and depth in selected subjects, with a balance of maths and sciences, languages and arts and humanities,” according to program criteria.

This year, the number of exams given increased by 122%, from 46 to 102; the pass rate increased by 9%, to 80%; and the number of 10th through 12th grade students taking an exam increased by 70%, from 44 to 75.

Jim Drummond is a longtime Yorba Linda resident. He gives his opinion on local issues weekly. Send e-mail to [email protected].

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers lean on D’Angelo Russell in preseason victory over Kings

• October 12, 2023

ANAHEIM — The Lakers have yet to play a true “home” game so far during the preseason, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell during Wednesday night’s 109-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Even with the Lakers sitting three-fifths of their known starting lineup to begin the regular season, purple and gold paraphernalia was spread out throughout the Honda Center – a little more than 30 miles southeast of the team’s Crypto.com Arena.

Everything the Lakers did well received a strong ovation from the crowd, including when Anthony Davis walked onto the floor for his pregame on-court routine. Or when Davis and LeBron James, both in street clothes, joined the team on the bench and were shown on the jumbotron.

But once the game started, D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers’ lone known starter who played, gave the crowd plenty to cheer for.

Russell led the Lakers with 21 points (8-of-12 shooting, 2 for 5 from 3-point range), eight assists, three rebounds, one steal and a blocked shot in 21 minutes.

After playing 16 minutes apiece and having his playing time limited to the first half in the first two preseason games, Russell’s minutes were ramped up Wednesday, helping give the Lakers a boost when they needed it.

He scored or assisted on 13 consecutive points midway through the third quarter, including knocking down back-to-back pull-up 3-pointers as part of a 13-3 run to give the Lakers a 70-62 lead before he was subbed out for the duration.

Russell averaged 14.5 points on 61% shooting (75% from behind the arc) in the first two preseason games.

“D-Lo has been phenomenal,” Ham said pregame. “Just really the communication between he and his teammates, he and myself, making sure we get exactly what we want out of the offense and the beginning stages, laying the foundation. He’s been awesome.

“We understand there is a lot more cohesiveness as opposed to last year at this time and D-Lo is right at the forefront of that. He’s commanding the ball, making good reads, shooting the ball well, competing defensively. So, everything is in a good space.”

Gabe Vincent added 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Rui Hachimura, Taurean Prince and Christian Wood each scored 13 points apiece.

“We spoke to them about just having the right mentality and the right mission,” Ham said. “And we reiterated that at halftime – specifically to some of our young guys – of the type of approach you got to have to play at this level. Everybody embraced the message. Our older guys did immediately, and then a couple of our young guys woke up at halftime and came out and really took their play to another level. Things are not going to always be perfect. But as long as you keep swinging at it and trying to put your best foot forward, you’ll be great.”

James, Davis and Austin Reaves sat for rest. Cam Reddish (right ankle soreness) and Jarred Vanderbilt (left heel soreness) also didn’t play and remain day to day.

Davis played 27 combined minutes – all in the first halves – in the first two preseason games. James and Reaves made their preseason debuts in Monday’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas.

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James previously said he plans to play in half of the team’s six preseason games, and Ham confirmed that remains the plan.

The Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena and the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday in Los Angeles before closing out their exhibition slate against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 19 in Palm Springs.

“The approach right now is just to maximize each and every day,” Ham responded when asked what the ramp-up period will look like for James in the regular season. “Whether it’s an off day for him – he’s just not playing in the game but he’s still active in terms of working on his body, getting on the court getting reps in.

“It’s easy with him navigating these so-called challenges of the unknown because he takes such good care of himself and (is) constantly preparing himself. Again, not just being available but available at the highest. We’ll just take it day by day and see where it goes.”

“The group that we got has been fun. A lot of good guys out there that I have fun playing with and just enjoying watching them do well, and when it comes my way I feel the same energy back, so I like where we’re at as a team.” pic.twitter.com/vW0E14btdu

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 12, 2023

Darvin Ham discusses his takeaways from tonight’s matchup with the Sacramento Kings. pic.twitter.com/xh3NADjS0n

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 12, 2023

“Me and my guys are just doing a good job moving the ball… we just had some good action.” @Mike_Bresnahan with Gabe Vincent following his 18-point performance against Sacramento. pic.twitter.com/0zBgstUxGC

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 12, 2023

Christian Wood on where he’s at three games in: “I think I’m starting to find my rhythm. I think I’m getting better every game… I feel like the coaching staff is putting me in positions to find my spots on the floor.” pic.twitter.com/dTmfsLiY2n

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 12, 2023

“I’m just trying to be aggressive more.” Rui Hachimura on what has been working for him. pic.twitter.com/DSBJTTSmY2

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 12, 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Kings can’t slow Avalanche’s top line in season opener

• October 12, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The Kings kicked off the season with at least a puncher’s chance at the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title, but they were dropped by a bonafide heavyweight on opening night.

Mikko Rantanen had two goals and a pair of assists and Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and two assists as Colorado handed the Kings a 5-2 defeat on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena. Cale Makar notched a goal and an assist and Miles Wood clinched the game with an empty-netter.

Wingers Carl Grundstrom and Quinton Byfield scored goals for the Kings, while Cam Talbot stopped 31 of 35 shots in his Kings debut, with at least three of the four goals he allowed coming on very challenging opportunities.

Colorado’s big three – MacKinnon, Rantanen and Makar – accounted for all four goals against Talbot and combined for nine points before Wood slammed the door. Alexandar Georgiev made 35 saves for the Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago and opened this campaign as the favorite to win it at most sportsbooks.

“We want to make sure that we set the tempo high at the beginning of the season. We have a lot of guys on this team that can produce,” Makar said. “Everybody was looking good tonight.”

Kings coach Todd McLellan said he needed more from his special teams units, which were outscored 1-0, and greater commitment blocking shots, an area where the Avs doubled up the Kings 23-11.

“Territorially, it was fairly even. What they did better than us was commit to finishing things: they went and got pucks; they got sticks on pucks, they got bodies in front of pucks, they broke plays up defensively that we didn’t do. Then, offensively, they went and got pucks and tipped pucks, and we didn’t do that.”

Though the third period began with the Kings enjoying a bit of wind at their backs from a buzzer-beating goal before the second intermission, they found themselves trailing by multiple scores anew five minutes into the frame. Former Kings defenseman Jack Johnson’s long, slow but steady shot from a sharp angle to the near side was redirected far side in textbook fashion by Rantanen. Wood scored into the vacated cage with just less than four minutes to play.

The game had unraveled somewhat early in the second period, as the Kings gave up two high-skill goals in a 53-second span. First, it was Makar adjusting his shooting angle to create a four-man screen that gave Talbot next to no chance at a save while shorthanded. Then it was some five-on-five sizzle from Rantanen as the Finnish forward’s sharp-angled shot from in tight sailed over Talbot’s head and into the net for a 3-0 advantage.

The Kings pushed back with their first goal of the young season when Grundstrom did Grundstrom things. The winger, whom former Kings captain Dustin Brown affectionately named “The Tonka Truck,” barreled into Johnson on the forecheck, initiating a sequence that swiftly culminated in his clawing back a goal to make it 3-1 at the 6:18 mark. They halved their deficit with a mere 4.6 seconds left in the frame when Byfield’s centering pass for Adrian Kempe was deflected skyward and into the net for an own goal by Makar, which was credited to Byfield.

One positive byproduct of the Kings’ awkward last-second roster shuffling was that winger Alex Laferriere was able to carry the momentum from a strong preseason into his NHL debut, which would not have been possible with a full complement of wingers (Arthur Kaliyev was suspended and Viktor Arvidsson remained injured). Not only did the 21-year-old look every bit an NHL player, but he dropped both his gloves and Colorado’s Logan O’Connor. It was Laferriere’s first fight at any level of competition.

Last spring, Laferriere was still a sophomore at Harvard, though his Ivy League education didn’t lead him to intellectualize his traditional solo lap around the ice before the game.

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“I was trying not to think, actually, if I thought too much something bad [might] happen, so I tried not to think about it too much, I just skated around in a lap,” Laferriere said.

The Kings started the game with vigor as well, but they found themselves ceding the only goal of the first period.

The Kings mounted an early 6-2 shot advantage and drew the game’s first penalty. But seconds after Colorado killed it, the Avalanche scored on a play when MacKinnon vanished in the far corner of the offensive zone and reappeared in the low slot for a feed from Rantanen for a goal.

After the game, Makar offered his read on the Kings, after Game 1 of 82.

“They’re pretty much the same system. They play a little bit of a different PK this year,” said Makar, who won the Norris Trophy in 2022. “They’re definitely a very defensive team, so you have to play the game as a team, no one man is going to be able to break the puck out alone or anything like that.”

​ Orange County Register 

Real Housewives of Orange County finale: Tears and truth serum

• October 12, 2023

Move over, Tamra Judge, there’s a new villain in Orange County – and he’s not even a housewife.

“The Real Housewives of Orange County” wrapped up the second of two reunion shows on Wednesday with the revelation that Shannon Storms Beador, who worried all season that too much housewife tittle-tattle would scuttle her relationship, had in fact been dumped by boyfriend John Janssen.

Like most things with Shannon, it’s complicated.

The episode opened with a montage of Shannon and John clips from Season 17, ending with a warm moment in which he told her he was ready to take their relationship to the next level, fueling Shannon’s dream that once her twins left for college this fall, she and John might shack up together.

Bravo’s Andy Cohen, hosting the reunion show, quickly got Shannon to acknowledge that the couple was no longer together, and all had not been as rosy as she’d tried to portray on the show.

“We argued,” she said. “He would leave and ghost me and he wouldn’t speak to me for days. I had never been more in love with anyone in my life than I had with John Janssen.”

Why say he was ready to “take it to the next level” if he was thinking of ending it, Cohen asked her.

“He was trying to get through filming, so that he didn’t look bad,” Gina Kirschenheiter interjected as Shannon reached for the first of many tissues.

“He said it on camera and a week later he broke up with me,” Shannon said as tears flowed.

“Ugh, horrible!” Jenn Pedranti said.

After a tangent into Shannon’s frantic season-long efforts to keep her castmates from talking about her relationship with John on camera – more on that in a moment – the end of that relationship resurfaced on the show.

“He broke (bleepin’) up with me,” Shannon tearfully said. “He broke my (bleepin’) heart. Can I look back at certain scenes and you can see that he’s checked out? Absolutely I can.

“I’m like embarrassed,” she said. “I feel like I’m a smart person that has a semi-decent head on my shoulders. And I’m like, ‘My god, look at how he’s looking at you,’ or, ‘Did you not see things?’”

Cohen noted that photos on Shannon’s social media recently had shown her out with John.

“Are you back together?” he asked.

“No,” she replied.

“Are you hoping?” Jenn asked.

A few questions later, Cohen said asked what he really wanted to know: “Is he a friend with benefits?”

“Sometimes,” Shannon replied.

“Wow,” Cohen said. “All right. We’re gonna leave it there.”

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The shadow of Shannon’s recent DUI arrest again loomed over the proceedings. As in the first reunion show a week earlier, a text slide filled the screen at the start to note that the reunion had taken 10 days before that arrest.

And there’s really no way the show could have avoided acknowledging that, given that a large chunk of the second reunion episode again involved talk about Shannon getting drunk in a reality show setting.

After Shannon told Cohen that in fact she does consider Heather Dubrow to be a Machiavellian figure, Heather pushed back against Shannon’s portrayal of herself as someone who would never tell the other housewives about her love live’s highs and lows. Well, certainly not the lows.

“Please don’t get angry at me,” Heather began. “You tend to drink and then call some of us.”

Guess what? Shannon got angry at her.

“You know what, Heather, that is a (bleeped) up think to say to me,” she shouted.

“It’s not! You’re the town crier,” Heather replied.

“Do I go out and drink sometimes?” Shannon replied with a righteousness she probably regretted 10 days later. “For you to say I need rehab. For you to paint a picture so I’m calling people every single night.”

She turned from Heather to Emily Simpson.

“For you to say I need a breathalyzer –”

“I think it’s a good invention,” replied Emily, who during the season suggested Shannon use one before calling after she’d had a pop or two.

Shannon then turned to Gina.

“You saying it’s truth serum, when I haven’t had an intimate conversation with you,” she said, attacking Gina for her quip during the season that the sauce gets Shannon spilling secrets. “Let me reiterate, Gina. I don’t like you.”

Gina rolled her eyes, she does it very well, and then Emily turned the conversation in a surprising direction, ignoring the facade of reality around the show to discuss the nature of what a Real Housewife does.

“You share things with people that you’re on a show with while you’re filming, (and then) you act like you don’t understand how this works,” Emily told Shannon. “If you don’t want any of us to talk about it, and you don’t want it to come out –.”

“– don’t tell us,” Heather interjected.

“Our job is to say how we feel and to say the truth about what’s going,” Gina said with the kind of confidence that comes from having memorized the Real Housewives code of conduct.

“My job is to be Shannon Storms Beador!” Shannon replied at considerable volume. “So I am not going to look at things and go, ‘Oh, I am on a reality show, so I’m going to act different now.’ I act the way I am.

“Do you know what I’ve done on reality TV?” Shannon continued. “I took my shirt off when I gained 42 pounds” – a clip is helpfully provided. “I’m the first housewife that’s delved into infidelity.”

The housewives are unimpressed.

“Why does that make it better than anybody else?” Heather asked.

“Gina had a DUI,” Emily added. “Tamra weighed me at the gym.”

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Real Housewives of Orange County reunion special: Topless Tamra’s pixelated parts
Real Housewives of Orange County season finale: Evil clowns and home colonics
‘Real Housewives of Orange County’: Shannon dances on a bar in Mexico as the Tres Amigas party on
Real Housewives of Orange County: Sesame Street-Sasquatch baby drama
Real Housewives of Orange County: Emily tries to ruin Heather’s party

But really, the rest of the episode wasn’t nearly as interesting as what you’ve read already. You don’t really need a play-by-play of the the hearing by the House Special Committee on Who Called Who a Loser at BravoCon do you?

Nah, didn’t think so. Suffice it to say that by the end of the episode, most everyone had made up. Heather and Tamra, certainly had. Shannon still didn’t like Gina.

And with a round of tequila shots, and Red Bull shot for post-DUI teetotaler Gina, we bid our fair housewives adieu.

​ Orange County Register 

USC’s Caleb Williams brings ‘king vibes’ into potential crowning game v. Notre Dame

• October 12, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The familiar shouts came back in July, the budding king of Los Angeles obliging a slew of Dodgers fans for autographs on the day he tossed out a ceremonial first pitch, center Justin Dedich describing the scene after practice Wednesday.

Ca-leb! Ca-leb! Ca-leb!

And this had, of course, become commonplace for Caleb Williams, a public-savvy superstar who needs no reminder about humility. But Dedich, his affable fellow captain at USC, still chimed in anyway.

“I wouldn’t want that signature,” Dedich recalled joking to fans.

The two have built a close bond, quarterback and center, close enough that Dedich can accidentally snap a ball directly into Williams’ groin and joke that it was on purpose. Close enough that he assumed the public address microphone at Dodger Stadium that day in July to fire off digs at his QB.

“I try to be the guy in his life that’s a little bit of a (jerk) to him,” Dedich said Wednesday, a grin beaming underneath his mustache. “Everyone praises him, and stuff, and I just try to make little side remarks to keep him humble.”

In the past couple of weeks, adding a flourish to his touchdown celebrations, Williams has shed just a hint of that public humility. In a new custom, endorsed by Lakers star LeBron James himself, Williams has placed hands over his head in a king-me gesture after scores against both Colorado and Arizona.

“It’s just kind of an energy thing for me, kind of a persona that I’m taking on, I guess you could say,” Williams said of the celebration, after practice Wednesday. “Just kind of feeling that way.”

“Just, king vibes.”

The world first saw a sneak preview of King Vibes at this same inflection point almost a year ago, with USC taking down Notre Dame, 38-27, at a key place in the schedule. Williams threw four touchdown passes and receiver Jordan Addison placed an invisible crown on his quarterback’s head in the midst of a runaway Heisman Trophy race. And with 10th-ranked USC (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) not publicly favored for the first time all season amid a trip to South Bend, with his back-to-back Heisman odds slipping ever-so-slightly behind Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Williams has the chance to make another emphatic statement against the Fighting Irish.

But oh, will it not be easy.

For a full first quarter against Arizona last week, Williams looked off. He overthrew a streaking Tahj Washington, smacking his hands together repeatedly in frustration afterward. He overthrew Brenden Rice, then fired too wide, on a later drive, to Washington again.

He rebounded in dramatic fashion, realizing Arizona’s defense was packing coverage and beating the Wildcats with his legs. But Williams’ final numbers through the air were tempered, if not efficient – 14 of 25 for 219 yards and a score. And a look at his final line against blitzes reveals why: just 6 of 14 for 84 yards, per Pro Football Focus.

It’s a major point of emphasis against Notre Dame, an elite and versatile defensive unit that features five players who have generated more than 10 pressures thus far this year (by comparison, no Pac-12 team has more than four).

“Their linebackers are super aggressive … those guys are so good, they like to blitz ’em,” offensive line coach Josh Henson said Wednesday. “We gotta be ready to pick up those blitzes.”

Williams, in turn, will need to be ready for them, operating with more early-game assertiveness against pressure.

“Not taking sacks on first and second down is huge, and that’s something I didn’t do as well last game,” Williams said Wednesday. “In our last game, I had three first and second-down sacks, and in the first couple games, I think I had zero total, something like that.”

Indeed: Williams didn’t take a first- or second-down sack, actually, until USC’s fourth game of the season at Arizona State. He’s faced considerably more pressure against Colorado and Arizona, leading to full quarters when he’s looked out of rhythm, and USC was well aware – as Williams said Wednesday – that opposing teams would look to copy any successful schemes.

The Fighting Irish might mix together the best version of a blitz- and defensive back-heavy coverage Williams has seen all year. And thus, a potential second crowning moment awaits.

​ Orange County Register